University of Massachusetts Amherst
PAE-2: Strategic Plan

Our strategic plan covers Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Waste Reduction and Recycling, Mercury and PBT Reduction, Sustainable Design and Construction, and Water Conservation. Furthermore, we have an environmental management system and have developed an environmental compliance tracking and reporting program.

UMass Amherst developed a Community, Diversity, and Social Justice (CDSJ) Initiative in 2004 to improve the quality of the UMass Amherst community through a systemic change process focused on the following CDSJ goals: Create a more inclusive and equitable teaching, learning, working and living community; Develop proactive (rather than reactive) management practices regarding CDSJ; Increase local responsibility and initiative regarding CDSJ; Fully integrate CDSJ into the campus mission of teaching, research, and outreach. Systemic Change is: Assessment-driven Results-oriented Locally-initiated and accountable Focused on changing policies, practices and culture Mission-congruent Championed by leadership at all levels

Every year UMass Amherst commits between one to two million dollars for energy conservation projects, which are designed to upgrade or replace inefficient physical structures or technologies on campus. The program is designed as a payback system, where the annual savings the project creates pays for the cost of the project within seven years. Savings are recognized through the utilities budget, signifying projects will reduce the amount of resources needed by the University, which will in turn deduct the annual savings of the projects from the utility budget for the following year. The Sustainability Initiative works to aid in the selection of projects through the Utilities and Procurement subcommittee of the Environmental Performance Advisory Committee (EPAC). For the 2011 fiscal year, the University funded $3.5 million of energy conservation projects which range from replacing streamlines to installing motion sensors for lighting in the two most heavily used academic buildings, Machmer and Herter. To ensure student involvement in this process, the Sustainability Initiative internship for engineering students work with the Utilities and Procurement subcommittee. Interns are chosen based on their knowledge of new technologies, energy conservation and installation issues. Overall, since its creation in 2005, the University allotted $17 million dollars through the E+ Program for a variety of projects across campus. Some of them include steam line replacements, the installation of a 2 MW turbine in our Central Heating Plant, VFD installations and a $4 million dollar chiller replacement project in 2010. UMass Amherst aims to continue its pledge to energy reduction well into the future.

http://www.umass.edu/ohr/cdsj/ http://www.umass.edu/epac/EPAC.htm